So how did Apple respond to this wonderful legal gift that Judge Posner handed it?

Apparently "complained" would be the proper term. Astoundingly Apple filed a motion challenging some aspects of the Judge's Claim Construction, which it felt might weaken its "thermonuclear" quest to destroy all of the top Android phonemakers' sales.

But much like Napoleon's bold invasion of Moscow, followed by a ruinous retreat, Apple may have made a fatal miscalculation in angering Judge Posner who once appeared to be on its side. Judge Posner called Apple's filing "troubling" and writes [PDF]:

Apple presumably spent a nontrivial amount of time drafting its order, and now I have done the same in responding to it. Yet it seems that Apple brought about this expenditure of scarce resources without first making a careful reading of the page or so of my order against which this motion is launched. Such inconsiderate sloppiness is unprofessional and unacceptable.

Given Judge Posner's strong reputation in U.S. Federal legal circles, his criticism of Apple's legal staff as "unprofessional" is very "troubling" for the Cupertino gadgetmaker, to borrow his term. That criticism goes well beyond his harshest words to Motorola's lawyers to date.

Again, it's somewhat baffling why Apple would turn around and burn itself on the eve of its greatest triumph in U.S. Federal Court. However, some grateful Motorola lawyers are surely thanking the heavens for this inexplicable turn of events.

An important note is that Motorola started the lawsuits with an Oct. 2010 filing against Apple claiming infringement of 18 patents. However, given that Apple had just filed a lawsuit against HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) and had admittedly threatened both Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KS:005930) and Motorola with litigation, it appears this may have been a "preemptive strike". Sure enough, Apple sued Motorola later that month. So far Apple has done better in the U.S., though Motorola did get several key patents invalidated.

A non-biased observer could argue that Apple started the lawsuit war with Android, but Samsung and Motorola escalated it with new suits, and a host of international filings. Likewise, such an observer might point out that a piece of the culpability lies with Windows Phone maker Nokia Oyj. (HEL:NOK1V) who kicked off the lawsuit wars in 2009, suing Apple over 10 patents and filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking to ban iPhone imports from their manufacturing location in China. That ban request was the first of its kind and would be echoed in later ITC filings by Apple and its Android rivals. Wikipedia maintains an excellent timeline of the lawsuit wars.

I was under the impression that he felt big and cocky, like he was above everyone else, which is a superiority complex, but not a Napoleon complex. It would only be a Napoleon Complex he was actually (literally) small.

His particular situation was more similar to the Douchebag or Fratboy Complex, which seems to be more common in, but not limited to, the wealthier Californian areas. South Park, a worthy news source, did a good job reporting these types of people in an episode about smog and Prius drivers.

"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer